Hugh Jackman Preparing for a ‘Powerful & Stocky’ Wolverine

Published 4 years ago
by
Sandy Schaefer
, Updated February 15th, 2014 at 4:26 pm,

It’s no secret that Hugh Jackman is excited to pack on the muscle and bear unbreakable metal shears again as the titular mutant in Darren Aronofsky’s The Wolverine. He’s already praised the talents of those involved behind the camera and promised many times over that Logan’s second standalone venture will have far more depth than that of X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

Now Jackman has spoken out more about his high hopes for Wolverine 2, which was scripted by Oscar-winner Christopher McQuarrie, and based off Chris Claremont and Frank Miller’s acclaimed 1982 story arc (chronicled in “Wolverine” #1-4 and “Uncanny X-Men” #172-173).

Most fans consider Origins to be a sub-par attempt at exploring the mythos of Wolverine – one that failed to shed light on the true essence of his character and instead offered a watered down look at his complex backstory. Jackman told Hero Complex that he’s “really, really pumped” for Aronofsky’s project, indicating that McQuarrie’s screenplay truly captures the survivalist mentality and conflicted morality of Wolverine in a way that the actor himself has wanted since he first played the role in Bryan Singer’s X-Men.

Jackman went on to offer the following story, with respect to his quest to see Claremont and Miller’s source material realized on the big screen:

“I remember saying to ['X-Men' producer] Lauren Shuler Donner, ‘Lauren, I don’t know about you, but I’ve seen this Japanese story, and I think it’s so good. It’s just genius, it’s brilliant.’ And we kind of always talked about it from there on. I sort of even wanted to do that in the third X-Men movie at first, but we thought, no, we really need to establish who he is at first, and we did that [with X-Men Origins: Wolverine], and now this is sort of the cherry on top, to finally do it and have Darren Aronofsky direct it.”

Jackman and Aronofsky are re-teaming for 'The Wolverine'.

Even since he first graced the screen as the hairy man-beast prone to violent fits of rage back in 2000′s X-Men movie, Jackman has played an increasingly ripped and bulky version of Wolverine in each subsequent film thereafter. One unavoidable physical difference between the character in his comic book form and Jackman’s version is due to the Sydney-born star’s size, being around 6′ 2” tall, whereas Wolverine himself is traditionally portrayed as a noticeably squat, compact fellow who might barely reach Jackman’s shoulders (if he were real).

Jackman is quite aware of this and dropped the following tidbit about how he’s handling that issue in The Wolverine:

“I don’t know how much I want to give away about it, but Darren said with the last one, ‘Hey you looked great, but you’re so tall that in those long shots you looked kind of like Clint Eastwood, and that’s not Wolverine.’ He said that Wolverine, in the comics, is powerful, stocky, you know, he’s short and thick… I always think of Mike Tysonwhen he first came on the scene. Sometimes, he was a full foot shorter than his opponents and bent over [with this] massive build. There’s real power… That’s what I’m going for, and if I have a massive heart attack first, well, you tell everyone what I was going for.”

Aronofsky’s Wolverine is certainly posed to give fans the hard-hitting, no-holds-barred action flick with a brain that they were hoping for, but did not get from Origins. If nothing else, it will be interesting to see how the Black Swan director’s unique style and visceral and harsh approach to filmmaking works when filtered through the lens of a big-budget Hollywood blockbuster.

You know what,I use to like her when she was depicted as a prostitute,who pops her claws in the bathroom. That was when it rumored she could have been Wolverine’s daughter.I liked the gritty depiction of her. But I don’t like the current take on the character. So I cant stand the character in the books now,but I wouldnt mind seeing her done in her first introduction in these films. :-p

I second that…
Nolan proved you can make a superhero movie that is not aimed at kids or teens…
We need directors who can do action AND drama to film comic book adaption’s.
Could you imagine Kubrick doing a flick about The Beyonder/Secret Wars…?
Epic is the word…..and that is what a superhero flick needs….
Not pedestrian….

i have high hopes for this! x3 was boring and origins was not nearly as good as it could have been, and first class…well you don’t even see marvel talking about it. my hope for x-men is in The Wolverine! Hugh is great and i hope they are telling the truth about going deeper!

I’m looking forward to this. I actually Didn’t hate Origins like some did. I didn’t love it, but it was certainly not the worst of the franchise. It was fun and had a lot of potential if it just dropped a few characters and worked a little harder on the CGI it could of been good.

This is looking better and better everytime. I’m a big Wolverine fan but I’ll admit I never much cared for the japan stories. They were not the most interesting parts of Logan’s life. However with the talent attached to this it seems it could be really good maybe even up there with X2 as best of the franchise.

I thought Hugh was huge in Origins I’m afraid to see him much bigger the guy was ripped.

Gotta agree there. The actor is never gonna bash his project just like I’m sure he had nothing but good things to say about X3. However, Im taking in to account the fact that the people involved here are much better than those behind X3 and origins. I’m not a big of of Arlofsky but he is at least better than Bret ratner by leaps and bounds and also slightly above Gavin Hood (I did hate the fountain though that was awful). The writer attached is also a step up.

To each his own I actually didn’t think Origins was awful. It wasn’t great but I still enjoyed it. I’m sure had it not been a Wolverine film I’d probably of hated it, but much like TNG even when it’s bad it’s still about something I love. I enjoyed Origins and saw the potential in it. It was so close to being good but every opertunity to be good was lost. It just kept missing the mark. A few less characters and a step up on CGI and it could of easily been good.

I’d rank them

X2 – 9/10
Xmen – 7.5/10
Origins – 7/10
X3 – 5.5/10

First class is stacking up to be the worst of the franchise so much so I actually have no intention of see it. Not one good detail about it. It looks like it will be a solid 3 of 10 lol.

I just see a lot of hope in this project. I’ll see Wolverine 2 no matter what. When I see it will depend on the trailer though. Wolverine is my third fave comic character right behind Iron Man and batman

I was hoping that Aronofsky would do something radical like cast a new Wolverine. Jackson gets on my nerves after 10 years.
Also, what is Darren thinking? Directing a Wolverine *sequel* ? WTF? He’ll ruin his reputation.

Yes we do. It takes place after Origins, but it´s set as a stand alone story. Just like the Wolverine comic series is a stand alone compared to Uncanny X-Men, X-Men, X-Force, Astonishing X-Men, X-Men: Legacy and all the other 3827 comic book series that Wolverine appears in.

Hugh Jackman will not say anything bad about his projects because he has class! He’s just psyched to play freaking Wolverine!!! Although he could gain about 25 pounds and lose about 8 inches in height! Oh and have bad posture. I’m excited.

dude really , wow, I think your looking for the Singer/ Vaughan movie, this should have nearly no one from the Xmen except at the end when Logan is getting Married if they even put that in other wise , you should see Silver Samurai, OGUN, Yakio, Shingen, Mariko, and Viper.

What I like about this so far is that out of all the comic book movies being done this has the most serious storylines and the strongest IMO, If this movie is handled well we could see great things from this movie and i may even receive the respect that movies like Road to Perdition (graphic Novel)or Ghost Story has received.
Im really jazzed to see this come together, Hopefully they wont screw the story up to badly. It would be awesome if they let Aronofsky recast the xmen for this movie, in fact if I was him and I was keeping the dinner scene in it I would demand it. FU SINGER

Here’s a question: Are there super-hero comics aimed at kids that kids like? Think back. Wasn’t just what ever options were available to you? If you could get more real comics, wasn’t that the better choice?

I remember watching horrible Saturday morning super-hero cartoons, this is back when Scooby-Doo was popular, and honestly, SD was better!

Does anyone really want to go to lame, dumbed-down super-hero movies? IMO the best part of Donner’s Superman happened before Chris Reeves appeared on-screen.

So, my guess to “who wants it more real?” is everyone. But, the industry probably fears losing their family market. Well, maybe they should cut that tie! There are enough cartoon cgi movies out catering to THAT market!

As for Aronofsky, he has done some interesting work. The worst thing about The Fountain was its title; should have been The Tree of Life, which would have made way more sense. A’s work usually takes on a more psychological edge. I don’t know about the word “dark”.

I have enjoyed the X-Men salted Wolverine series. Some of you are right. The movies have always been about Wolverine. But, so what? It has at least given us something to watch when nothing else was out there — which is my point.

Here’s a thought: why not release back-to-back super-hero movies? That would eliminate the cheap crap that gets inserted when nothing better is playing.

Id like them to explore when Wolvie and Sabretooth were in the Canadian CIA together. Im happy fox isnt totally messing with this movie (like all the others). It seems like every year that Fox messes up another X-men movie, Marvel movies get that much better…hopefully by the time Fox’s rights to the franchise run out Marvel will be ready to reboot the wolverine and x-men series.

And am I the only one who still wants to see Sawyer from Lost (Josh Holloway) as Gambit. Give the guy his own movie for Gods sake already lol.

But i get what your saying…pleasse though lets not make wolverine native american *sarcasm*. You’ll give the comic purists a heart attack. Although I believe the buff kid from twillight could pull off a young wolverine well.

None. Any actual Wolverine fan should reject the idea of a YOUNG actor in the role. Wolverine should always be played by a man in his mid to late 30′s or even early 40′s. A 20 something wolverine is just wrong.

At last a superhero movie to look forward to. Jackman is no doubt miscast but still adequate, Aronofsky is an excellent director and the storyline is one of the best comic stories of the 80s. At the risk of jinxing it i really can’t see how this one could go wrong.

Physically Jackman is miscast yes, but performance wise he nails Wolverine. He’s a great actor and can easily pull the part off he just doesn’t look it sadly. At least he acknowledges that and while he can’t shrink he’s willing to do everything in his power to fit as best he can.

Origins may not of been as good as well all wish it was, but at least we have an actor playing a part that he is truly passionate about. NO and I mean NO other actor playing a super hero cares as passionately about that character as Hugh does about Wolverine and that’s why we keep watching. Even if the script and direction let us down we know Hugh never will. As long as he is in a film playing Wolverine my butt is firmly planted in a seat.

Story wise it wouldn’t make sense, but as awful as First Class Looks if Hugh was in it playing Wolverine I’d watch. The film would still suck and would make even less sense, but Hugh is in it and you know at least he will do the best he can for us. Sadly that’s not the case so I won’t even bother watching first class. Not opening weekend not in the dollar theater and not renting at home on my DVR.

I will how ever be there with in the first two weeks of the release for The Wolverine to check out Hugh in action again. Because he loves the character and he always gives us a great performance and because I’m a huge fan of Wolverine and of Hugh Jackman.

@ Daniel F – I agree you about Jackman. As for the mask, everything has been written around the ‘Logan’ character as opposed to the ‘Wolverine’ character. I agree it’s time for the mask. But, because of continuity, it would ruin the story arc if Wolverine appeared in First Class. I hope no one is disputing that. When Logan met Rogue, he was rogue. He had no memory of his past. X-Men Origins did a good job filling that in (I don’t expect the moon). I have no trouble with Wolverine’s part in this story. I do believe there are serious problems with having killed off Scott and Jean. I believe that means no Cable.. and, I thought Havok was Scott’s younger brother! A little odd..

For a guy to have the same body as Wolverine in the comics he would have to be a body builder and how many body builders can really act? So I guess my question is what is more important that the actor like Hugh Jackman can capture the personality of the character and try to get his body to look like Wolverine in the comics or is it more important that to get a guy to have the body of Wolverine and can’t act?

I wish he would stop that stupid diet and use the movie magic of hollywood. He’s a good actor, Hugh plays the Wolverine very well let that stand for itself. Come on people we are talking about a comic book character that is made up and putting him into human form. Ask any kid in the U.S and they will tell you the Wolverine is Jackman. Hugh you rock, don’t let the posers tell you your job. It’s like the Lone Ranger or Batman, once they take that character away that you created they are lessor for it. Let Hugh be Hugh, stop he stupid diet. Don’t take crap so seriously folks and get out of the house once in a while.